Comments | sca: Possible copyright infringement?

evil_fionn in sca

Possible copyright infringement?

Jul 23, 2009 21:15

Because I have a serious question:

Tonight, as the husband and I were in the Wal-mart, we were walking by the men's clothing section and saw a T-shirt with calligraphy on it. I stopped to read it (because I'm a geek thankyouverymuch), and noticed that the writing was the partial text of an SCA scroll from the Barony of Windmaster's Hill in Atlantia ( Read more... )

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ellid July 24 2009, 03:10:13 UTC

The BOD needs to be informed ASAP, and this needs to be publicized as much as possible. This is far from the first time Wal-Mart has done something like this.

Best case scenario: find the scribe who did the original scroll and have him/her send a letter to Wal-Mart's corporate HQ. The letter should be on the letterhead of an intellectual property attorney and should be cc'd to every major news network, the Associated Press, every newspaper local to Windmaster Hill, and the American Civil Liberties Union. If the scribe can't be located, then the BOD should do it, preferably before the t-shirt is sold out.

lady_guenievre July 24 2009, 03:18:55 UTC

Already working on tracking the scribe, and this will start going up the Seneschalate tomorrow. (It's a bit late to wake them now).

luciab July 24 2009, 13:02:41 UTC

Ummmm--- pretty sure that's me. I have the scan of the original here in front of me. For example, the "November" was broken at the end of a line. I haven't registered this anywhere as copyrighted, but I do have a scan of the original.

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luciab July 24 2009, 13:37:06 UTC

Does it have to have been done before the work was used?

victoriapringle July 24 2009, 14:42:04 UTC

No need to file a copyright unless you plan on filing a law suit. Let me know if you need a hand with any of this, I am an intellectual law paralegal and my father and brother are IP attorneys. However there is no need for an attorney to file a copyright, you can do that yourself. The forms are quick and can be done online. It's $35 and maybe 30 minutes of time.

luciab July 24 2009, 14:45:38 UTC

Wow, you are exactly the person I need to talk to. Can you email me at s.l.arthur at gmail.com, please?

aeliakirith July 24 2009, 13:12:03 UTC

Eep. I take it then that this wasn't done with your permission?

evil_fionn July 24 2009, 13:38:23 UTC

If it was you....
Very nice, even calligraphy.
Very eyecatching.
:-)

luciab July 24 2009, 13:45:37 UTC

Thank you!

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marchaunt July 24 2009, 03:24:18 UTC

so did I

derekl1963 July 24 2009, 04:06:57 UTC

Bad idea. This is serious legal stuff, not your average kingdom mailing list tempest in a teapot.

chiere July 24 2009, 04:51:35 UTC

This!

rickthefightguy July 24 2009, 11:50:26 UTC

Actually, best case scenario: someone who isn't in the SCA sees the scroll, thinks calligraphy is neat, and joins the SCA. Anything legal-like is always the worst case scenario.

cvirtue July 24 2009, 12:08:09 UTC

I agree that legal is the worst-case, but I think the chances that someone not already interested in calligraphy would look at this example as anything other than decoration is quite remote.

I've seen hundreds of Tshirts of this general style (lots of things mashed together) and not once have I thought "hmm, that particular flower is pretty, maybe I should look up the type and grow it in my garden."

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